Malaysia Armory Thieves Surrounded
International Herald Tribune
July 5, 2000
Thomas Fuller

Surrounded by Malaysian security forces after a nationwide manhunt, 15 heavily armed men took two fruit farmers hostage Tuesday, officials said, in the latest twist in a bizarre weapons heist that has shaken a country long seen as a pillar of stability in Southeast Asia.

Officials said over the weekend that a group of men posing as high-ranking military officers raided two military arms depots Sunday about 250 kilometers (150 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur and seized more than 100 assault weapons and several thousand rounds of ammunition.

The theft has embarrassed officials in Kuala Lumpur and led to speculation that the arms could have been destined for rebel groups in one of Malaysia's troubled neighbors.

The thieves are believed to have taken more than 80 M-16 rifles, two Steyr assault rifles, five grenade launchers, four heavy machine guns, six light machine guns, more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition and 60 40mm mortar shells.

News reports Tuesday from the area where the group is believed to be located said the thieves had engaged in heavy gun battles with security forces since late Monday night. But Malaysia's chief of police, Norian Mai, denied the reports Tuesday and said the group might have been merely testing its weapons.

There was also confusion Tuesday over the number of hostages being held by the group. Saarani Mohammed, a member of the local state legislature, told reporters that three hostages had been seized, two of them police intelligence officers. But Mr. Norian said there were two hostages, both of whom had been abducted as they picked fruit.

Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, who has had political troubles lately but none involving armed conflict, said late Monday that he could not discount the possibility that the group that carried out the raid had intended to sell the arms.

"We know that weapons are something with good markets," Mr. Mahathir told reporters. "We are viewing this seriously, and we are not discounting the possibility that this is a prelude to something bigger."

With sectarian and separatist violence flaring up in several locations around Southeast Asia, military analysts have speculated that the arms shipments could have been destined for militant groups in the Philippines or Indonesia.

The kind of weapons taken aren't meant for use in normal robberies or bank heists," Prasun Sengupta, a military expert and an editor of the Asian Defense Journal in Kuala Lumpur, told The Associated Press. "They are used in guerrilla insurgencies."

In a separate development Tuesday that underscores the problem of arms trafficking in the region, an Indonesian naval officer, First Admiral Djoko Sumarjono, said he had ordered a tightening of the naval cordon around the Moluccas, which have been afflicted by Muslim-Christian violence.

Malaysian officials, who say any link to fighting outside their country is still speculative, are nonetheless intrigued by the sophistication of the arms heist.

"It was done in a very professional manner," an aide to a minister involved in the standoff said Tuesday. "Clearly this has been thought out and well executed. There are a lot of arms out there."

Mr. Norian, the police chief, labeled the motives of thieves as "purely criminal" and added, "We believe some among them have knowledge of military affairs, as obvious from the methods of their raid."

The heist comes less than three months after 21 people, including foreign tourists and Malaysian government employees, were kidnapped from a diving resort off the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah. But in contrast with the raid on the resort, which was carried out by Philippine rebels, government officials told local newspapers they believe that the 15 men involved in the weekend arms heist were Malaysians.

The police have cordoned off the area where the thieves are believed to be located, setting up roadblocks and questioning local residents, news reports said. Malaysia's national press agency, Bernama, said a school had been closed and turned into an operations center.

"We believe the arms and ammunition are still with them." Mr. Norian said.

Conflicts involving such sophisticated weapons are rare in Malaysia, where unlicensed possession of arms is a capital offense. Unlike its neighbors, Malaysia faces no separatist threat and has no history of military coups.

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